Superman Returns (Video Game)
Supporting Characters: * * * Antagonists: * * * * * * * Other Characters: * * Locations: * ** Items: * Vehicles: | Story = The game opens with a rain of meteorites threatening Metropolis with destruction. Clark Kent, seeing this before the disaster strikes with his telescopic vision, turns into Superman and smashes the meteorites before they can hit the city with his array of super-powers and the additional guidance of Jor-El's holographic recordings and Professor Emil Hamilton of S.T.A.R. Labs. After the crisis is averted, the events of the years that follow are reviewed by a montage of Daily Planet newspapers. In the process of thwarting Lex Luthor's plans, Superman manages to get him convicted and given a life sentence in prison. Afterwards, theories by astronomers that Krypton in fact never exploded convince Superman to embark on a search to the other side of the universe, in the hopes that he might find his home-world intact and thriving. In the meantime, Lois Lane grows upset at Superman's decision to leave Earth, and Lex Luthor is freed from prison on appeal. Unfortunately, Superman discovers that Krypton was indeed destroyed, and the Man of Steel is captured by the slaver ships of the alien despot Mongul on the return trip to Earth. Intrigued by the existence of the Last Son of Krypton, Mongul brings Superman to his gladiatorial artificial planet Warworld and forces him to battle with his powerful extraterrestrial champions, Plahtune and Overkhast, to compete with them for audience favor. When Superman wins both fights, Mongul enters the ring himself to humble the Kryptonian, but even he falls before the might of Superman, who then easily escapes from Warworld. Superman then returns to Earth and resumes his day job at the Daily Planet in his Clark Kent identity. Clark is saddened and slightly dismayed at Jimmy Olsen's news that Lois Lane grew tired of waiting for Superman's return and decided to start up a new relationship with Perry White's son Richard instead, though Jimmy's personal suspicion is that Lois never fully gave up her affections for the Man of Tomorrow. Even still, there are some who are dismayed not because Superman did not return soon enough but rather because he returned at all: Superman's rogues' gallery. Setting into motion his next plan, Lex Luthor, accompanied by his hench-woman Kitty Kowalski, infiltrates the Fortress of Solitude during Superman's absence and learns about the unique properties of the Sunstone Crystals from the holographic recording of Jor-El. Luthor then absconds with Sunstone from the Fortress and returns to his base, the acquired former Vanderworth estate. Back near the Daily Planet, Superman re-acquaints himself with his trimonthly extradimensional imp visitor, Mr. Mxyzptlk, who tasks Superman with completing several challenges of different kinds for him as an alternative to the usual "Kltpzyxm" routine. These challenges include saving kittens, racing Mxyzptlk across the skyline at the speed of sound, and being magically transformed into Bizarro to destroy as much of Metropolis as possible before the spell wears off. Meanwhile, Metallo, the villainous cyborg with the Kryptonite heart, has decided to mark Superman's public return by using his mechanokinesis to create an army of robots powerful enough to combat even his invincible old foe. Metallo and his legions of robot minions and AI-piloted hovercraft rampage for some time throughout Metropolis, putting innocent lives in danger to bring Superman out. In his first few reunion scuffles with Superman, Metallo gets away when Superman gets the upper hand, but in their final encounter, Metallo knocks Superman out with his Kryptonite heart and transforms into a giant mechanical monstrosity. When Superman recovers, he chases Metallo down to a square within the city and attacks him using the environment. Metallo then launches a large missile to raze a Metropolis skyscraper, which Superman intercepts. Then, Superman dives through the giant Metallo's heart and tackles the real Metallo out of it, knocking him out in the process. In the next chapter of the story, Lex Luthor explains to his goons at the former Vanderworth estate how Kryptonian technology was based around the growth and expansion of Sunstone Crystals, giving them a demonstration by placing a minute sample of Sunstone in the water-filled area of a miniature model train set. Not only does the crystal grow violently as expected, but it also generates an EMP pulse which temporarily knocks out the power grid of most of Metropolis. Though the city soon recovers, power is last to return to the grid providing electricity to Project Cadmus, allowing failed cloning and genetic experiments, such as dragons, gargoyle-creatures, and Bizarro to escape. The Cadmus monsters and some stragglers from the defeated Metallo's army proceed to wreak havoc throughout Metropolis, demanding Superman's attention to stop them. Bizarro fights Superman a number of times in his repeated attempts to "save" Metropolis by destroying everything in sight, culminating in a clash nearby the Superman Memorial Statue in Centennial Park, in which Bizarro is vanquished by Superman's heat vision. In the meantime, Lois Lane sneaks onto Lex Luthor's yacht off the Vanderworth estate, having tracked down the source of the EMP pulse to it, and seeks to interview Luthor about his involvement in it. Taking Lois captive, Luthor admits responsibility and reveals that he intends to use his pilfered Sunstone Crystals, in conjunction with a sample of Kryptonite, to create an entirely new island continent off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. This will concurrently cause large-scale ecological havoc worldwide and render many parts of the planet virtually uninhabitable, claiming billions of innocent lives. However, the survivors of the cataclysm would then be forced to seek refuge on Luthor's Sunstone/Kryptonite continent and submit before his rule for their continued survival. Then, Luthor launches the Sunstone Crystal within a Kryptonite encasing into the Atlantic Ocean using a hollowed-out torpedo and waits for his island to materialize, even as power outages and violent storms begin to reach the coast of Metropolis and the surrounding area. A little time later, subsequent power failures in Metropolis allow scores of alien and superhuman criminals to escape from specialized holding facilities on the fringes of the city. Once more, the mutant escapees' destructive presence in Metropolis forces Superman to patrol for any unusual disruptions and put a stop to them. Among the escaped villains is the self-multiplying madman Riot, one of Superman's more minor but still irksome adversaries. As the storms off the Metropolis coast worsen significantly, Superman is unexpectedly faced with the ire of once-humiliated Mongul, who has brought Overkhast, Plahtune, and a small army of alien criminals with him to avenge his past defeat on Superman by trashing his city and beating him in a rematch. Despite wielding the element of surprise in their attack, Mongul and his champions fare no better a second time than they did the first. After contending with Mongul and his cronies, Superman hears that Lois Lane has been kidnapped by Lex Luthor and makes his way out to sea, but must return to Metropolis when the storm finally arrives at the coast. Superman successfully destroys the tornadoes that the storm manifests, until it creates a massive one that he must enter and neutralize from within. Superman returns to sea and confronts Luthor on his growing island, but he is defeated by Luthor, as the Kryptonite component of the island, of which Superman was unaware, sapped his strength upon arrival. However, Lois and the coast guard rescue him, and Superman bathes in the rejuvenating rays of the Sun, empowering him to take on the monumental task ahead of him. Superman blasts underneath Luthor's enormous landmass and throws it into space, seriously injuring himself in the process. However, he recovers, and Lois writes an article about why the world needs Superman, saying that he will always be there when the people of Earth need him. | Cast = | Notes = | Trivia = | Links = * https://games.ea.com/superman_returns/home.jsp }}